September 1737 (2)
= Le Mercure Gallant - September 1737 = Weather this month *Mild everywhere. Events Of Importte Pertaining To Recent Matters Bonn *Continuing the siege of Bonn, General von Ziethen’s Prussian army spent four days siting batteries and battering the walls. A breach was achieved in the north wall, and the well-motivated soldiers of the 4th Brigade zu Fuss sent forward to secure it. Possession was contested by companies of crack Swiss mercenaries, who in a sharp action threw back the assailants, making it clear that taking the breach will prove a bloody affair. General von Ziethen has requested the surrender of Bonn. The garrison replied swiftly, stating that should the breach be carried by the Prussians then the garrison will happily surrender, assuming of course that full honours of war are granted. Sidon *Grand Admiral Talaat Pasha made two attempts to land marines, which in each instance were aborted when Janissaries appeared on the waterfront amongst the rubble. This however served to expose the soldiers to the cannon of his fleet which blasted their positions, causing great loss of life and some dismay amongst the Syrian defenders. Iroqouis lands *Baron de Mallats has acceded to the demands of the Iroqouis, giving them the money asked for and formally ceding Fort St. Joseph to their control. The Baron then spoke of an alliance of mutual defence, offering the gifts of metal axes, rifles, muskets, gunpowder and alcohol per year up to the value of £50,000. In return ‘we will expect our traders to work in their lands and to receive as gifts many hides of fur per year from the Iroquois’. The Baron then formally offered £100,000 as payment for the formal return of Fort St. Joseph in French control. *Father Jean Pierre Aulneau and the French soldiers of the La Reine Regiment as well as some irregular backswoodsmen have been released by the Indians. Strassburg *The main curtain wall of Strassburg has been repaired, and work is now beginning in making good the damage sustained by the midwork defences. This is in spite of city remaining under blockade by Imperial Prussian forces. *In Strassburg Jean-Baptiste Labat told the Landgraf of Baden to keep hope alive, ‘do not give in and France will come to your aid.’ He then gave £10,000 to His Grace as a sign of good faith before stepping outside the city and being received by Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau under a flag of truce. He said to Leopold, “Last month in the interests of peace His Majesty the King of France offered a ceasefire and asked that Prussia suspend siege operations. France seeks peace with honour and I beg to know your answer as I desire to prepare a conference in Strassburg for the powers of Europe.” *General de Foix’s French cavalry outside Strassburg have been reinforced by 30 dragoon squadrons. This contingent, the Lyons Column, intended to move straight on into Strassburg but in reality found this to be impossible since the Prussian Zentral Army is still blockading the city. *Using rafts and muffled oars the Swiss and Munster musketeers of the 39th Brigade crossed the river. This caught the attention of De Foix’s sentries, who however were placated after speaking to French speakers amongst the Swiss. As the troops gathered on the river bank and the rafts set off to get some more, it did however became clear to the French that these were Imperial troops serving the Kaiser! De Foix was alerted and roused his camp. Rather than seriously engage the ten battalions of the 39th, the French skirmished with them, causing the Imperialists to retire back over the river on the rafts. Philippsburg *Philippsburg, the capital of Palatine and loyal to Graf von Lochmann und Palatine, has had the alarm raised after the French 2nd Army appeared outside. The gates were closed, and seeing the walls held against him, General Trappanier concluded that the Palatine had sided with the Kaiser and so was an enemy of the King of France. He therefore is preparing to start a siege. He has under arms 24 infantry battalions, 64 squadrons of horse and nine batteries of artillery. Berne *Captain Thierry Lacroix, Comte Ushant has enquired of Captain-General Johann von Berne what the terms for accepting French recruiting parties are, and for hiring Swiss mercenaries? Paderborn *Despite being forced to skirmish and suffering harassment at the hands of Schonberg’s Liegois dragoons, the Kaiser’s troops outside of Paderborn have begun a siege. Getting local labourers to help proved nigh impossible, and as a result it took 13 days just to get in a position to collect sufficient materials to begin the siege properly. By 20th September the approach trenches had been dug, and efforts over the next few days were made to capture the covered way. The 1st Magdeburg Regiment made sterling efforts to do so, and were quite surprised to find themselves opposed by sepoys of the Imperial Indian Regiment! The fighting was more small scale than intense, but try as they might the Prussian musketeers could not gain a foothold. *Under the personal command of Kaiser Frederick I the cavalry of the besieging forces temporarily combined, although His Imperial Majesty’s desire to have horse artillery join them was thwarted since none was available. Once this was realised, they deployed slowly with 31 squadrons of horse in four lines on an eight-squadron frontage, each squadron being in a two-ranks deep line. The 11th Kurassier Brigade on the right of the line formed up knee-to-knee, the rest in close order. The Liegois dragoons kept their distance and when the Prussian cavalry broke into a lively gallop Schonberg had his men evade back. In this manner the Kaiser bloodlessly drove away the Liege-Cologne cavalry who, God willing, shall no longer be discomforting his army! Versailles & Paris *The Duke of Lorraine has arrived in Versailles at the behest of the French royal government, and has expressed his hope that a marriage compact can be agreed between his own House and that of King Charles. Alas the King and indeed the Queen were not at home upon his arrival, having been conveyed to Paris with Cardinal de Mailly in order to attend mass at the Cathedral of Notre Dame. On the steps of the cathedral King Charles praised the Gallican church for its spontaneous gift to the Crown as a sign of love and respect for His Majesty’s government. “For France has only one aim, to obtain a general peace for Europe and a long and honourable peace for herself and for the greater glory of God.” The King also mentioned in passing that he would welcome an ambassador from Savoy to his court at Versailles. The royal family then went about handing out considerable sums of poor money in alms to those deserving of such charity who had gathered close by. London *George Blake, MP has tabled a parliamentary question, asking His Majesty's Government how much has been given in foreign aid over the last three years to Prussia and for what purpose? *His Majesty’s Government has issued a call for settlers interested in moving to the British North American Colonies to come forth since ‘the government has opened new areas for settlement and land is available.’ Beirut *Beirut has fallen without a struggle to the Army of the Will of God led by Sultan Suleyman IV in person. Kyoto *Mizuno Tadayuki has announced at the Imperial Japanese court at Kyoto that on the Shogun’s estates those workers who tend the fields will have to surrender 5% of their grain to the Shogun, who will use this in the national interest. “Their sacrifice will be in the service of the Emperor and Japan. They will not go unrewarded for giving up the grain, and the new state-controlled Fudasahi Exchange will calculate a fair price for the grain and this will become the compensation, although payments may need to be staged.” The Shogun hopes that this will be a short term measure to help kick start the Japanese agricultural economy, and if successful the workers on the Shogun estates will also be rewarded with additional grain from future national surpluses. The Emperor, who is known to believe that future success for Japan will come from the hard work and sacrifice of its people, is interested to see how this initiative works out and if it proves successful may ask all the great lords to do the same on their estates. However, he wishes to see both what happens in practice and how Shogun uses the rice before giving this his full backing. He wonders if people will starve through lack of sufficient rice for their families? Rheinberg *The Royal Chancellor, Comptroller-General le Marquis Gerard de Besancon has arrived in Rheinberg as the King of France’s plenipotentiary at the peace talks expected to begin there. A few days after arriving His Grace learnt that he has lost the office of Comptroller- General. However he seemed far more irritated to find no Prussian delegate here with whom to negotiate! People being Much Admired by the Best in Société *Russia *France *Moghul India *Prussia *Hungary *Kwantung China *Blackbeard *Ottoman Rumelia *England *Spain *Sweden *United Provinces Shipping Lists: Being a Reporte on Knowne Shipping Movements *25 Japanese merchant junks have been lost at sea in the Far East this month. Lloyds Lists: Being a Reporte on Knowne Shipping Losses from Causes Unknowne or Knowne *None. Ambassadorial Appointments *Sent by England to the Iroqouis Indians, Sir Thomas Able. *Sent by France to Savoy, Abb é Honoré Sieyès. *Cabellero Delgado has ended his embassy to the Yaqui Indians on behalf of Spain. Trade Missions Opened *By Great Britain to specifically support their textile trade, in Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Moscow, New York, and Cadiz. Automatically parsed by LGDRParser v1.0 Category:Game 2